Let me let you in on a little secret… parenting Baby C sort of feels a lot like cheating. When J was a baby… I was a wreck. He never slept. He cried… constantly. I was so stressed out that I got shingles several weeks after returning to work. If I’m being honest, it’s probably […]

I am officially more pregnant than I’ve ever been in my life. J was born at 37 weeks and five days, and here I sit at 38 weeks… plump with little C and wondering if this is going to be my state of being until he cuts his way out at 16 and asks to […]

I’ve stopped and started this post so many times that it feels silly to start again. The truth is, my words are stopped up; choked into the space between my heart and throat and filling me with the strangest feeling of fullness. Because, well, I am full today. Yet I can’t seem to find the […]

Father’s Day brought out a whole mess of emotions this year, this first year where we have a stepdad and husband. There were obligatory pancakes and sausage and gifts and cards. There was a little tennis, a little playground time, and some shopping. And then, as evening rolled around, there were tears. So many tears. […]

Last night, J and I together managed to pull his very first loose tooth out of his mouth. He was so excited, all bright eyed and gap toothed and telling me he wasn’t sure he’d get to sleep because he couldn’t wait to see if the Tooth Fairy would come. He was overjoyed. And I? […]

I always make J hold my hand in parking lots. It just makes me feel safer. Usually he balks at it or gives me a look… but not this time. This time he slid his hand into mine without a single complaint. Banks was a few steps ahead and we were all talking about who […]

It’s almost Halloween, so it sort of feels appropriate that I’m spending the majority of my days scared out of my mind. Of course, it’s not the witches and werewolves and vampires that are haunting my sleep… it’s the everyday reality of blending a family. I feel absolutely petrified, frozen in place, unable to even […]

“All you ever do is clean,” he pouted from the living room sofa. “You NEVER spend time with me anymore.” I was in the kitchen, unloading the dishwasher and cleaning up from dinner. We’d been from school to karate to a frozen yogurt store and then home and had dinner and I was feeling burnt […]

Tomorrow, my son will be six years old. Six is when I got a baby brother, when I began kindergarten… when I started to formulate memories that stay with me even now. And as I watch my own child roll into himself, roll into six years old, I can’t help but wonder if we have […]

Last week, my nerves were shot and I was stressed and uncomfortable with the decision I’d made to put J in public school. Last week, I was so worried that he wouldn’t be loved and supported and nurtured along with educated because the school was so big and there were so many students and how, […]